Category: History

Brother Francis has a tremendous appreciation for the history of the Church. He likes to call Church history “the laboratory of wisdom.” Why? Because the history of the Church is the history of human salvation, and choosing the best means to save one’s soul is the highest prudence. And prudence, says St. Thomas Aquinas, is wisdom in action.

History is the laboratory of wisdom, but the application today of the lessons learned from history is prudence.

How, for example, are we to understand what St. Pius X meant when he said that “modernism is the synthesis of all heresies,” if we are ignorant of the history of the Church’s battles against heresy? How are we to evaluate the causes of what Pope Benedict referred to a “crisis of Faith,” if we unfamiliar with any of the twenty ecumenical councils that preceded Vatican II?

There are twenty-two books of the Bible that are history books: the first nineteen of the Old Testament, the two books of Machabees, which end the Old Testament, and the Acts of the Apostles in the New.

A knowledge of Church History is a knowledge of the life of the Body of Christ extended in time throughout the past twenty centuries. It is a glorious history, with its martyrs, confessors, saints of the desert, great doctors and popes, apostles of nations, proliferation of contemplative orders, active orders, teaching orders, advances in science, medicine, the arts, missionary life, and victories over the enemies of true religion, who engaged her by pen and sword.

Without a knowledge of history, of its facts, dates, and events, a Catholic is ill-prepared to defend the Church against those who would gainsay her by misrepresentation, misinformation, or deliberate disinformation. Nor can we forget that we all have an obligation to instruct the ignorant who have been misled by error and who, in their hearts, nurture an affinity for the truth.

Giving a Free Hand to the Assassins

Robert Hickson’s thoughtful reflections on U.S. complicity in the assassination of Vietnam’s Catholic President, Ngo Dinh Diem. It introduces Marguerite Higgins’ 1965 book on Vietnam, Our Vietnam Nightmare. The photos used came from the Ngo Dinh Diem Webpage. Click here to … Continue reading

Madame Nhu

The Mad Monarchist produced this video tribute to Tran Le Xuan, better known as Madame Nhu. His description, from the YouTube posting, is beneath the video. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTR1aJD84tU (Mad Monarchist) Madame Nhu, nicknamed the Dragon Lady, was born Tran Le Xuan … Continue reading

Sacrum Imperium

Christmas brings all sorts of joy, for all sorts of reasons. Readers of Dom Prosper Gueranger’s Liturgical Year will be reminded in his first volume for the season of three great historical events that took place on Christmas Day — … Continue reading

Rome Moscow 1962 Alliance

It’s old news to traditional Catholics, but good to see the record posted now on Catholic World Report website. Edward Pentin doesn’t mention the masonic connection however. Though there certainly were many communists who infiltrated the Church in the 50s, … Continue reading

Saint Teresa and the Calendar

There was no shooting star, but Christendom needed a calendar readjustment the day Saint Teresa of Avila died. Legends and astronomical facts abound about shooting stars accompanying the death or birth of certain great historical personages, or that heralded major … Continue reading

Oldest Daughter of the Church

The American in Paris of Traditionalist bent will, in addition to the usual sights, doubtless seek out the Traditional Mass at such churches as the SSPX’s Saint Nicolas-du-Chardonnet or else Versailles’ Notre Dame des Armees. After Mass, he will then … Continue reading

Can Chivalry Return?

Chivalry! Knighthood! These are words that stir up an enormous number of images in the mind: St. George and the Dragon; the Quest for the Holy Grail; King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table; Charlemagne and his Twelve … Continue reading